Press release

By winning the 2013 CEV Volleyball Champions League Russiia's Lokomotiv Novosibirsk qualified for this year's FIVB Club World Championships

Omsk,
Russia, March 17, 2013 - It was history in the making on Sunday evening at the V.
Blinov sports complex in Omsk as Lokomotiv Novosibirsk won the 2013 CEV
Volleyball Champions League title after a dramatic final that lasted almost two
and a half hours.

It
was not an easy win for the home team who reached their ultimate goal in their
journey by edging out Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo of Italy 3-2 (22-25, 26-24,
25-23, 20-25, 16-14). With this result Lokomotiv Novosibirsk – who joined
Europe’s most prestigious club competition only for the second time in their
relatively young history – has also qualified for the 2013 FIVB Club World
Championships scheduled for next October. “Loko” is the third Russian team to top
the final standings after compatriots Lokomotiv Belgorod (2003 and 2004) and
Zenit Kazan (2008 and 2012).

Bre
Banca Lannutti Cuneo from the Piedmont region fought bravely from the start up
to the very end, even resisting three match balls in the tie-break. However the
home heroes finally regained the upper hand to the joy of more than 5,000 fans.

“This is a dream that comes true” MVP Marcus Nilsson said. “I still can’t believe that I have won the Champions League and was also voted MVP. The final match was a fantastic game with our fans cheering on us all the way through. Once the Russian Superleague comes to an end, I will go back to Sweden and get ready for the World Championship qualifier taking place in my hometown, Halmstad. It’s going to be very special to represent Sweden’s national team there” he added.

Last
year’s winners, Zenit Kazan, did manage to take home their fourth European medal
from the 2013 CEV Volleyball Champions League – a bronze – after edging Zaksa
Kedzierzyn-Kozle of Poland 3:1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17) on the last day of
action in Omsk.

The
Tatars did sometimes lack consistency in much the same way as they did in Saturday’s
match against compatriots of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk. But with a couple of
changes to their starting six – which included the valuable additions of Yury Berezhko
and David Lee – they eventually cruised to a well-deserved win. Unfortunately for
Zaksa – celebrating its third appearance in a final four tournament – the work
of top scorer Antonin Rouzier (14 points) and the always outstanding Brazilian
wing-spiker Luis Felipe Fonteles was just not enough for the team to make it to
the podium for the first time since 2003.

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